


Alive

by piltovers_finest



Series: Love Anxiety [2]
Category: League of Legends
Genre: Fluff, M/M, help him, jayce does not know how to deal with children, please
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-23
Updated: 2017-08-23
Packaged: 2018-12-19 02:02:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,098
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11887581
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/piltovers_finest/pseuds/piltovers_finest
Summary: Jayce meets a zaunite kid and her grandpapa as Viktor laughs in the background.





	Alive

**Author's Note:**

> Continuation of [Falling out of feeling](http://archiveofourown.org/works/10830861). Reading that one before this one is recommended.

"And then I said, I said," Old Man Larry snorts and clears his throat. Jayce waits. "I said. Toxic waste who. And he, he said. He looked at me, right? He looked at me ol' bones and said. I don't know. And I said TOXIC WASTE LEAK AGAIN."

Viktor doesn't even snort as Old Man Larry's whole frame shakes in a fit of laughter. Jayce isn't sure what he's supposed to do.

"Oh come on fella, you done gotten rid of your funny bone too?" Old Man Larry slaps Viktor's back and Jayce quirks an eyebrow as Viktor stumbles. Larry looks like he can be swept away by the weakest of breezes. It seems miraculous that he hasn't turned to ash walking with them, all cracked skin sticking to bones. "Loosen up, boy."

Jayce considers the chances of Viktor loosening up slim. Close to zero.

Old Man Larry stops in front of a run-down shed and points at it with a flourish. Jayce tries not to grimace, isn't sure if he succeeds. Zaun, he's learned, is faring worse than he thought. He suspects that most at Piltover know this, or at least most of those who could fix the situation or try to help. It's an uncomfortable issue to think about, considering who he is in Piltover.

And not something he would like to be musing about right now.

Larry kicks the door open, and Jayce panics until the entire shed stops vibrating. "No need to take off your shoes, lads," they follow him inside, and it's bigger than it looks, but still small. Clean, at least. Well kept. Well loved, he guesses.

Something collides with his leg and Jayce holds back a shriek and looks down.

A kid blinks up at him.

"Hello sir. My name is Laura. What is your name," Jayce tries to catch Viktor's attention and get some help, he does, but Viktor's kneeling in front of Larry and trying to let him check on his mechanical prosthetic leg and Jayce is alone.

All by himself.

With a child.

Doomed.

"Jayce," he croaks, and the kid nods. Laura disentangles herself from his leg and takes exactly one step away from him, crossing her hands at her back. She stares. Jayce would like to think that he isn't fidgeting but he isn't going to start lying to himself now. "What is it?"

"Are you going to help my grandpapa?"

"Viktor is helping your..." Jayce pauses, looks over at Viktor and Larry again, then back at Laura. Takes a deep breath. "Your grandpapa."

Viktor snorts. Jayce feels profoundly betrayed by everyone in that shed.

"Don't worry 'bout it, kid. I'm fine."

To Jayce's surprise, Laura doesn't seem to react well to Larry's words. She frowns at the floor, grabbing fistfuls of her shirt in her tiny hands. She then shuffles forward and tugs at Jayce's sleeve.

He panics. Jayce doesn't know how to deal with children, how is he supposed to know how to deal with...what? Sad children? Angry children? Sad and angry children? But she keeps on tugging, and Jayce swallows and kneels in front of her.

"What's the matter?" he sounds snappish, but she doesn't seem to mind at all. Laura grabs his face, and she's not delicate about it. Her hands are dirty and grubby, and Jayce is going to scream but then she's talking into his ear and he listens.

"Grandpapa is very sick," she whispers, slowly, as if she's sharing a very important secret. "He can't breathe right. But he doesn't want me to worry."

Laura steps back and takes one of Jayce's hands between hers, studies it with gravitas. Jayce doesn't know what to say. Old people can't stay healthy forever, it's how it works. That's what he'd like to tell her. Lay it down crystal clear, as things are. But he suspects that Larry isn't sick just because he's old.

He doesn't know what to do.

Laura sighs. He can feel her dirty fingers on his hand still. Larry might be the only family she has left, for all he knows. What can he say to comfort a kid, while at the same time not lying, and not being brutal about it.

"Laura," Viktor says, and Jayce feels so relieved he could cry as he and Laura look up at him. He kneels. Laura lets go of Jayce to grab at Viktor's mask with both hands and he unclasps it and allows her to take it. "Larry is going to get better. I promised you, didn't I?"

Jayce glances at Laura. She's biting her lip, frowning.

"Yes, but...I'm worried," she steps towards Viktor and Jayce is surprised to see that his arms are already open for her, that he's ready for this small and grubby child to nestle into him and find comfort in him. Something that Jayce himself couldn't be, with all he's judged Viktor in his life for getting rid of parts of his humanity.

Viktor talks quietly to her and Jayce stares. His features have always been sharp, Jayce knows. He's stared at them for long enough. His heart still misses a beat when Viktor catches him looking and smiles, as softly as he can manage.

"Hey, pumpkin," Larry says, his voice light, and Laura moves her head enough to peek at him with one eye. "Lookit what I can do!"

Larry kicks his mechanical leg out and Laura leaves Viktor's arms slowly, dropping his mask on his lap. Jayce is afraid of opening his mouth and putting his entire foot inside, so he keeps it shut. He settles for looking at Laura walking to her granddad and laughing as he pretends to lose control of his limbs while she touches the mechanisms of his prosthetic leg.

He wonders how many sheds like this one Zaun holds.

Viktor has shown him some things since he's been coming down to Zaun. Factories, mostly. The after effects of toxic waste leaks. Abandoned houses. Chem-Barons roaming the streets. He never sugar coated it, and never pretended that Piltover wasn't at fault.

Zaun is breaking down, crumbling into pieces.

Larry grabs Laura and holds her up, making her breathless with laughter.

Yet Zaun is full of life, and Jayce can see it now.

"Will he really get better?" Jayce asks, and Viktor stands, walking out of the shed. Jayce follows.

"He will, health wise," Viktor drums his fingers on his mask and bumps his shoulder with Jayce's. "Nothing to do about his sense of humor, sadly."

Jayce grabs Viktor's face with his dirty hands and kisses his smirk.

**Author's Note:**

> exactly what it said on the tin


End file.
